By the autumn of 1942, France has fallen to Hitler's legions, the Soviet Union is reeling on the eastern front, and Britain is beleaguered. In North Africa, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel (`The Desert Fox') and his Panzers have routed the Eighth Army and, seemingly invincible, threaten the vital oilfields of the Middle East.

Out of desperation, the British plan to send a small, heavily armed mobile force behind enemy lines to strike a blow that will stop the Afrika Korps in its tracks. This force: the Long Range Desert Group, together with the SAS and Popski's Private Army, will become legendary.

This novel brings to life the ingenuity and daring of this unit. In doing so, it pays tribute to all of this who were part of this struggle. Told through the eyes of a young lieutenant (Chapman), this novel is both an uplifting tale of great courage, bravery and ingenuity as well as a sobering reminder that while governments declare wars, it is people who fight them. For those of us who are unfamiliar with the detail of this particular theatre of World War II, this novel provides a wonderful starting point. I want to know more about the actual events and characters depicted - especially Rommel.

Mr Pressfield has written a novel which is consistent with historical fact and acknowledges the contributions of the historical participants. It is also a tribute to the power of the imagination as expressed through the written word to bring events to life.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

I'd give Pressfield's novel six stars if I could. I'll make no effort to summarize this excellent work. Read it. It's the riveting tale, written as a diary, of one man's experience in the Long Range Desert Patrol. The style is sparse but powerful. There is suffering, death and respect for honorable enemies. There is deep pathos and, although there is heroism aplenty, it is always understated and, precisely because it is understated, it is all the more vivid.

I read this novel in two sittings constantly marvelling at Pressfield's artistry, insight and humanity.

Ron Braithwaite author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Conquest of Mexico

"Killing Rommel" is an excellent account of the little-known exploits of the LRDG in the dark early days of WWII. It's classic Pressfield in authenticity, drama, and good history. It delivers everything his fans have come to expect since the monumental "Gates of Fire."

Looking for some recreational reading, I pulled out one of the review book I've gotten lately. The one I chose was Steven Pressfield's Killing Rommel. This is the first novel of Pressfield's that I've read, but I don't think it'll be the last. He does war novels grounded in historical facts, so the books have a real "first person account" feel (or at least Killing Rommel did). I thoroughly enjoyed this book set in the African desert campaigns of World War II...

The story is told in a manuscript written by R. Lawrence Chapman. Chapman, or "Chap" as he's known by, signed up in England to fight against the Nazis who were closing in on conquering Europe and Mother England. He ends up on assignment with the Long Range Desert Group, a real-life British special forces unit that is sent out on a primary mission... stay mobile, stay hidden, find Rommel, and kill him. This means that they are behind enemy lines, often with little to no support, almost always with equipment that's seen better days, and constantly in danger of being spotted and attacked by Panzer divisions. These days you expect that aerial recon and satellite communication would make coordination easy. But back then, radios involved major setup of antennas (with the associated risk of being spotted or heard), and maps of the terrain were non-existent. Chap and his unit endure horrid weather (both stifling hot and freezing cold), little sleep, and constant injuries following the ever-changing orders from central command. They spend more time fixing their trucks than they do driving them, and that driving usually has to be done at night in pitch dark conditions to avoid German patrols who know they are in the area. Through it all, Chap goes from a volunteer soldier who is unsure of his abilities to a solid leader who pulls his men through conditions that would have caused most men to give up. He also learns the honor and chivalry of combat, and ultimately has to make a choice over what's right and moral versus what's easy and safe.

Not having read any other of his books, I don't know if this one is indicative of the level of action you'd find in one of his novels. While he brings a sense of realism to the ugly side of war, the driving force of the story is Chap's transformation. I was impressed that he pulled off that amount of introspection without bogging down the action part of the story. Once I got started with Killing Rommel, it became the only book I was reading at lunch, on the bus, and in bed. It didn't last very long. :) I think I'll be hitting the library to check out his other books...

I found the book as a whole to be a bit of a bore. There just did not seme to be much going on . Pressfields sparse writing didnt help. The subject matter itself had me anticipating a far more interesting read than this turned out to be in the end.

I struggled for awhile with Steven Pressfield's Killing Rommel, but came to appreciate it more the deeper I delved into its compelling story. The difficulty I had was in finding motivation for the characters among the almost overwhelmingly detailed descriptions of the theater of war, the weapons, the military organizations, politics, and combat operations. Once I allowed the voices of the characters to come through, however, I discovered that they were driven by a simple but powerful force: honor.

The authoritative chronicle of military history is Pressfield's forte. In this book, he brings his considerable research and facile presentation style to the story of an unsung secret unit of the British Army, the Long Range Desert Group, whose mission is simple: find and kill the legendary commander of the German Afrika Korps, Field Marshall Erwin Rommel. The story takes place in 1942, when Rommel and his Panzers have defeated the British Eighth Army and stand ready to capture Egypt, Suez, and the oilfields of Arabia.

The LRDG is sent to decapitate the Afrika Korps by killing its leader, a desperate bid to turn the tide of the war. The story is based on actual ops, but told from the point of view of a young Lieutenant, "Chap" Chapman, who has recently married his sweetheart before shipping out for the desert. His attempts to communicate with her and meet their new-born child provide welcome human interest relief from the unending tales of desert warfare.

Pressfield goes to great length to show the reader what combat is like, with extensive descriptions of tactics, weapons, and the skills necessary to survive in the brutal desert environment. He also plumbs the feelings of his characters, their doubts and fears, their blind spots and their visions in both the heat of battle and the long slogs of ennui between. It's a realistic description of warfare, both modern and ancient, and the way it plays on the men and women involved.

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds: A Novel of Scandal, Love and Death in the Congo

This novel presents an excellent account of Desert warfare in Africa during World War II. The account is taken from manuscripts written by R. Lawrence Chapman, "Chap" as he was called. Chap's father had been a mentor and surrogate father to the author of this book who would never consider publishing his "account" of his minor, as he called it, service to England during the war in the very unfriendly desert areas in Africa and Tunisia. Chap's story had me ducking, driving, avoiding bullets and other ammunition, airplanes as they raided the area, and helping repair the vehicles that so often broke down in the desert heat of the days and the cold nights.



The Long Range Desert Group is made up of very highly trained Special Forces that are trained to work in the harshest of climates and terrain. The desert is generally thought of as sand and hot with unrelenting sun beating down on any living or dead creature. This is true but at night it can get extremely cold causing such temperature extremes that humans and equipment have a hard time just enduring. Chap is eventually assigned to one of these groups and learns fast that his training did not give him the sufficient knowledge that he would need to endure, not just the climate, but the enemy consisting of German desert fighters led by General Edwin Rommel, also known as The Desert Fox. The LDRG is hunting for Rommel through most of the desert warfare in this story. The purpose of finding him was to kill him. Rommel did not hide behind his forces but rather led them usually out front of them making him exposed to the enemy.



Chap was only one small part of the desert action but what he saw and had to do to exist, along with his own men, makes for a great read. The temperature extremes caused trucks, jeeps, guns, and all other heavy-duty equipment to break down frequently, forcing stops in many an inconvenient and unsafe area. They had to make do with the cover they could find such as peaks and valleys of the desert. They could only travel certain hours of the day because navigation in the desert is impossible unless you can find your way by the sun and/or star positions. If it was too bright or nasty weather closed in, they had to sit, wait, and hope they would not be found by the enemy or another group of their own, thinking they were meeting the enemy. These stops gave them little rest, little sleep, while repairing what they could, sometimes by cannibalizing wrecks to get the parts they needed for the equipment that was in fair condition. If they left a vehicle behind, the German's would take it, repair it, paint their swastikas on it, and put it in battle against the original owners.



One must read this book to appreciate what these men went through while trying to find and kill General Rommel. Steven Pressfield has taken the manuscript of Chap's and turned it into a great story, most of which is factual with only a few names and groups changed. It is almost unbelievable but we know from history that such brutal tours of duty did exist and this book only touches a brief part of how severe conditions made men live and die while fighting for their lives practically every minute of every day.

If military campaigns are your cup of tea, then author Steven Pressfield's latest novel, Killing Rommel is just the right brew. Pressfield is a military writer par excellence having authored three previous great novels, Gates of Fire, The Virtues of War, Tides of War and The Afghan Campaign. Fellow adventure author, Stephen Coonts has rightfully described Pressfield as the "finest military writer alive, bar none."

In his latest foray, Killing Rommel, Pressfield focuses on a fearless British Army unit, Long Range Dessert Group that was formed in 1940 and up until 1943 their patrols daringly operated hundreds of miles behind enemy lines in North Africa gathering intelligence and causing a great deal of havoc to the Germans and Italians. In fact, as mentioned in the book, Germany's famous General Rommel or as he was known as the "the dessert fox" stated: "The LRDG caused us more damage than any other unit of their size."

The story, as narrated through the main character, twenty-two year old Lieutenant Richmond Lawrence Chapman, who was attached to the 22nd Armoured Brigade, 7th Armoured Division, is a work of fiction, however Pressfield mentions in his introductory historical note, "its basis in reality is fact." All of the surrounding historical events actually happened and the forces mentioned all existed. Moreover, all of the types of operations performed by this gallant group of men are accurately depicted. Most of the geographic locations and protocol has been lifted from actual combat reports of the time. As for Rommel's character, Pressfield assures us that they are likewise factually accurate.

Divided into six sections, our protagonist, Lt. Chapman begins by telling us something about himself and the predicament the British were in during the early part of 1940 when he states: "It's a sickening feeling, knowing the enemy has your number. We can feel the force of Rommel's genius. He calls the tune, we dance-and always one step behind. Rommel concentrates his armour; we fritter ours away in dribs and drabs." The British are in a bad way as they are at a loss as what to do about Rommel. One disaster follows another and eventually Tobruk falls in June of 1940. Rommel now has control of a seaport within three hundred miles of Alexandria. Furthermore, the British have lost their lost stronghold in Cyrenaica. "The gallop is on, back to Cairo." Defeat is very close and if Cairo falls and the Germans take Suez, the British will be cut off from India and the Far East. Moreover, Hitler will get his paws on the oilfields of Iraq and Arabia.

It is at this point where we learn about the formation of the Long Range Dessert Group where only certain soldiers with particular qualifications are accepted as participants and although Lt. Chapman was initially rejected, eventually he does find his way into the unit.


As the story proceeds, we discover how this daring unit, whose principal mission was to find and kill Rommel, had carried out dozens of hard-hitting strike operations as well as paving the way for the British and eventually the Americans to succeed in forcing Rommel and his Afrika Corps to quit North Africa, which was probably one of the most important turning points of World War II.

Killing Rommel is an expertly crafted and fascinating book which is not only illuminating to read for its information and learning, but it is also thought provoking as it alludes to the existence of chivalry and self-restraint that apparently existed on both sides during the North African campaign. Pressfield does a great job of recreating the North African battle theatre and there is little doubt that he can always be counted on to turn out books that are both intelligent and gripping. This one is no exception, as he immerses his readers in the sights, smells, fears and battles of the war.

Norm Goldman, Publisher & Editor Bookpleasures

If military campaigns are your cup of tea, then author Steven Pressfield's latest novel, Killing Rommel is just the right brew. Pressfield is a military writer par excellence having authored three previous great novels, Gates of Fire, The Virtues of War, Tides of War and The Afghan Campaign. Fellow adventure author, Stephen Coonts has rightfully described Pressman as the "finest military writer alive, bar none."

In his latest foray, Killing Rommel, Pressman focuses on a fearless British Army unit, Long Range Dessert Group that was formed in 1940 and up until 1943 their patrols daringly operated hundreds of miles behind enemy lines in North Africa gathering intelligence and causing a great deal of havoc to the Germans and Italians. In fact, as mentioned in the book, Germany's famous General Rommel or as he was known as the "the dessert fox" stated: "The LRDG caused us more damage than any other unit of their size."

The story, as narrated through the main character, twenty-two year old Lieutenant Richmond Lawrence Chapman, who was attached to the 22nd Armoured Brigade, 7th Armoured Division, is a work of fiction, however Pressman's mentions in his introductory historical note, "its basis in reality is fact." All of the surrounding historical events actually happened and the forces mentioned all existed. Moreover, all of the types of operations performed by this gallant group of men are accurately depicted. Most of the geographic locations and protocol has been lifted from actual combat reports of the time. As for Rommel's character, Pressman assures us that they are likewise factually accurate.

Divided into six sections, our protagonist, Lt. Chapman begins by telling us something about himself and the predicament the British were in during the early part of 1940 when he states: "It's a sickening feeling, knowing the enemy has your number. We can fell the force of Rommel's genius. He calls the tune, we dance-and always one step behind. Rommel concentrates his armour; we fritter ours away in dribs and drabs." The British are in a bad way as they are at a loss as what to do about Rommel. One disaster follows another and eventually Tobruk falls in June of 1940. Rommel now has control of a seaport within three hundred miles of Alexandria. Furthermore, the British have lost their lost stronghold in Cyrenaica. "The gallop is on, back to Cairo." Defeat is very close and if Cairo falls and the Germans take Suez, the British will be cut off from India and the Far East. Moreover, Hitler will get his paws on the oilfields of Iraq and Arabia.
It is at this point where we learn about the formation of the Long Range Dessert Group where only certain soldiers with particular qualifications are accepted as participants and although Lt. Chapman was initially rejected, eventually he does find his way into the unit.

As the story proceeds, we discover how this daring unit, whose principal mission was to find and kill Rommel, had carried out dozens of hard-hitting strike operations as well as paving the way for the British and eventually the Americans to succeed in forcing Rommel and his Afrika Corps to quit North Africa, which was probably one of the most important turning points of World War II.

Killing Rommel is an expertly crafted and fascinating book which is not only illuminating to read for its information and learning, but it is also thought provoking as it alludes to the existence of chivalry and self-restraint that apparently existed on both sides during the North African campaign. Pressman does a great job of recreating the North African battle theatre and there is little doubt that he can always be counted on to turn out books that are both intelligent and gripping. This one is no exception, as he immerses his readers in the sights, smells, fears and battles of the war.

Norm Goldman, Publisher & Editor Bookpleasures

I guess I was expecting another "Gates of Fire"and was somewhat dissapointed. I am a World War Two / weapons buff and noticed a few small technical flaws in weapons / vehicle descriptions-sorry I am a nit-picker.Over all it was an O.K. read covering an interesting and often forgotten part of the Desert War. It is worth reading and I hope that this is not the author's last effort at writting about modern combat.

A great read, especially if you have had prior service as a tanker. It shows the importance of the armored company's mission and the conduct of the tank battalion, the importance of maximum fire power, reliable communications, and the flexibility of command. Good character development and detailed explanations of the battle history.

Killing Rommel begins with a very interesting preface. The main character of the preface and epilogue is not the main character of everything in between. The character of the preface and epilogue is almost an editor, someone who knew the author of the memoir that appears after the preface. Upon reading this preface, I was hooked.

The memoir portion of Killing Rommel tells the life story of a British tank lieutenant shortly prior to, during, and shortly after WWII. The lieutenant, after months of training and inactivity in tank division, is assigned to the long range desert group, which deploys small task forces throughout the deserts of North Africa to gather intelligence about German positions and to raid these positions. The story told focuses on the attempted assassination of Germany's Field Marshall Erwin Rommel.

The first 100 or so pages generally lack any details about direct combat, as these pages provide mostly background information about the war, the characters, and specifics of the long range desert group itself. The final 100 pages contain loads of action, and the book concludes with a timely irony that involves the target of the desert group, Field Marshall Rommel. It is a great story, easy to read, and fairly short.

This is the first book of Pressfield's that I have read, and after reading Killing Rommel, I intend to read Pressfield's other books. Comparing Pressfield's work to other historical fiction authors, such as the Shaara's, I found that Pressfield does not develop the character narratives as much as you find other authors doing. In a sense, I found Killing Rommel more historical than fiction. In reading Killing Rommel, I almost thought I was reading true fiction, just told through the memoir of someone who was actually there. Jeff Shaara is still my go to author in this genre, but I certainly like what I have read from Pressfield.

Killing Rommel may be overshadowed by lesser war novels and war novelists. From the popular W.E.B. Griffith through Ken Follet and Jack Higgins, competent writers who dress out current events and issues in period settings, it's tasty reading, but doesn't stick to the imagination as Steven Pressfield's does.

Gates of Fire was a revelation. To see the individual warriors of a Greek phalanx, down to the weapons and the shoving, and to hear them speak, rather than read stylized half lines and topoi and meter, was like, well, ethos. In that novel, as in less satisfying ones for me (Virtues of War, The Afghan Campaign), Pressfield applied a classicist's love of his subject and to the surface of research.

You have to love your subject to expend so much of yourself in it, and the characters breathe while still based in myth.

The North African desert is the blank sheet on which the characters get sketched in, filled out, and live. Chapman, the narrator, provides the framework for Killing Rommel. Rommel himself appears briefly, but is a stereotype. The desert itself is as awful and beautiful as Odysseus' winedark sea, Melville's Pacific, or Crane's empty universe.

There are memorable historical characters, and some of the other major figures: Chapman himself, Rose, his wife who grows up in the span of Killing Rommel with him, Stein, an Oxford don as heroic, loved--and doomed--as Hector, but they're officers. As in Gates of Fire, it's the E's of the Long Range Desert Group, Australians like Collie, Punch, Standridge, whose speech is historically true and immediate: ethos. And it works as it did in Gates of Fire.

If you want the best description of what makes a good officer, institutions responsible for that kind of curriculum development, whether military or B schools (the good ones) will agree with Chapman's clear self assessment on page 175, someone who "could be counted on to perform the mission...someone they could look o for leadership and direction," all without self consciousness or self obsession, a "framework within which they were freed to use their own qualities of courage, resourcefulness and tenacity."

Like most of my favorite writers, Mark Helprin, for example, Steven Pressfield isn't afraid of taking on cliches, whether in characters or situations, and making them new. Like my favorite Pressfield book, The War of Art (which not enough people read), he overcomes Resistance, including his demanding reader's lowered expectation.

I unfortunately thinking this is a Gates book and the story line about the Rat Patrol, Rommel, and WWII how could I go wrong. Was I ever wrong. What a yawnfest! I sat down and read the first 38 pages thinking okay this is the intro and away we go but --no-- it never awayed at all. Its written with all the zizzle of a government memorandum. Your suppose to beleive its the memior of some great pal that he hardly edited at all. All I kept thinking was wow you sure didn't do you pal a favor this is so dull. Virtually no dialogue, lots of dull asides, dull pacing, killing a story which should of been easy to spin with all of Gates' talent. Go to the book story ready 10 or 20 pages if you like those you'll like the rest.

Fans of the late Patrick O'Brian who miss his tales of men at arms should read this book. No, it doesn't take place on the high seas, but on the great sand sea of the North Africa desert, and no, it is not a story of British sailors facing the forces of Napoleon, but of British soldiers facing Hitler's Afrika Corps. But Pressfield's book is like O'Brian's, in that it gives the reader an excellent idea of the real lives of these men--their exertions, their privations, their disappointments, their victories. And like O'Brian,
Pressfield knows how to write action--the battle scenes here are very well done. This is one of those books that will stick in your memory.

I liked the concept of using the protagonist's memoirs as the basis of the story.
Although the author makes you feel like you are on a LRDG patrol, the story was ho-hum. I never really had any empathy for the characters.
I found myself always flipping to the maps to find out where the patrol was at. A Map at the beginning of each chapter would be helpful.
Just an ok read.

As someone who first read Gates of Fire in Grade 11, and every one of his books since, I can only say I'm astonished at the decline in quality in Pressfield's recent works (his book before this - the Afghan Campaign - was also lackluster). I happen to be an enormous WWII buff, but this book was... well stale. The characters were all meshed together with very little in the way of differentiating them, still less actually fleshing out and developing their personalities. The only two characters of note in the book is our hero the narrator, and the desert itself.

The book has surprisingly little action, and while the climax was memorable, it was not at all satisfying to read. Now, I want to say that I'm glad Pressfield wrote this book since is obviously passionate about the LRDG (just look up the promo videos), but dealing with an issue on which there is so much historical records limits his creative licence, and the sad truth is that it showed on every page.

One more point. The Publisher's Weekely review of this book above says something to the effect that our narrator "also falls in love with sexy Rose McCall, whose brains and brass later get her posted to naval intelligence in Egypt". This is an abomination. As bad as this book is, it was NOT cheapened by a cliched romance story or a cheap sex scene, and the character of Rose McCall plays an almost non-existent roll in the book, which is a good thing. So, shame on whoever wrote that review. Shame for trying to misrepresent the work of the author by leading the reader to think this book is caught up in modern cliches.

I will never take a Publisher's Weekely review seriously again. Mr. Pressfield may have written a weak book, but he is not a sellout.

Pressfield has done it again. A great book that kept me turning the pages and biting my nails. What an awesome story. Told in spare prose with the same putting the reader right in the battle sense from Gates of Fire. This is just a great read. I finished it and wanted to start right over again. There's so much to learn in this novel.

Well, I just finished the book today and Mr. Pressfield has done it again. Wow! First off, it moves. The characters are people that can be identified with and I found myself feeling for them too. Maybe it's because of the stories I've heard from my dad or some of what I've read in the past, but everything about it clicked.

You get a feel for the lengths these men went to, just to secure our freedoms. Not just the men, but the women as well. These were pivotal times and it was an entire generation that had to step up, to make it all go our way.

It's all right there, in the pages of Mr. Pressfield's book. The bigger picture was staring everyone in the face. The main characters weren't looking to be heroes, but they became heroes, just by doing what they knew they had to do. They weren't born to be killers, but they knew they would have to do things they hated doing, in order to preserve a future that would maintain values worth keeping. It all comes accross in this fast paced read. You feel like you are along for the ride, and you've got to stay one or two steps ahead of a more than worthy adversary, if you are to come out on top. Steven Pressfield makes you feel as if you are a part of a high stakes game and letting go of north Africa isn't an option.

The ending... I'm not embarrassed to say, brought me to tears. I was actually choked up. Brothers in arms -- who knows the lot of a soldier better than another soldier. You've got to read it to understand it.

A good but not a great read. The literary device used is similar to that in Gates of Fire but Killing Rommel is not in the same league. Historically there is little to quibble over but the flow of the story seems uneven to me. One interesting error that is repeated over and over is the description of the night encampment of the patrols as "leaguered" when I believe what he meant to say was laagered, an afrikaans word meaning to form a circular defensive camp.

I loved Gates of Fire and so wanted to like this departure for Pressfield from the ancient world. The novel takes about 100 pages to get moving, as we must learn about the main character's school days and so forth. It gets more interesting when he finally reaches the Long Range Desert Group, although unless you have a map at your side you'll quickly lose track of where they're going and why. The final showdown with Rommel is a letdown. Where Pressfield does excel is portraying war as it is- full of mistakes, miscalculations, and just bad luck.

I loved "Gates of Fire", but this book seemed to be mostly about driving from one place to the next in trucks, with a couple of scrapes here and there. Perhaps it would be more interesting to those who want to match up the in-book happenings with the historical record, which seems meticulously researched. And you do get some sense of the heroism and humility of the British soldier and the camaraderie of brothers in arms, and even of the moments of chivalry between enemies. But as a narrative, it doesn't entertain, unless you enjoy the travails of driving over different kinds of dunes.

Killing Rommel reminded me, once again, of why I like Steven Pressfield so much--not only does he write well and construct thrilling plots, he invests the thrills and excitement with meaning. Killing Rommel is not just a novel about the Long Range Desert Group or the hair-raising war in North Africa, it's a novel about modern chivalry and the honor that can exist among men at war with each other.

"Chap" Chapman is an unassuming Englishman--"old rich, recently ruined"--who enlists in the army at the beginning of World War II. Hardly before he knows what's happening, he has married his sweetheart and been transferred to a tank squadron in Palestine. He hates his job and desperately seeks transfer--to the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG), among other things. During the tumultuous collapse of the British Army before Afrika Korps commander Erwin Rommel, Chap unwittingly gains the goodwill of his commanding officer and finds himself temporarily reassigned to the LRDG. When Chap arrives, the LRDG is mere days away from its latest assignment: flank the German army by crossing hundreds of miles of burning wasteland, infiltrate the German rearguard--and kill Rommel.

It turns out, of course, to be no simple thing. Through frightening nighttime encounters with ghostly headlights, across the 130-degree plains and up thirty-story sand dunes, and even into an accidental infiltration of the Afrika Korps itself, Chap and the LRDG press on with their task, proving themselves--and Chap--along the way. The action is thrilling, the story exciting and surprisingly funny in many places. And the conclusion was totally unexpected, but precisely what was called for.

What amazes me about Pressfield is his obsessive attention to detail--anything and everything that can have some bearing on the world in which his characters live finds mention. In the hands of many other authors, the detail would become cumbersome and distracting. It's a sign of Pressfield's skill that the myriad details and descriptions aid rather than hinder his story. From the weapons and trucks to the barren landscape, everything in the novel is real from the get-go. Pressfield makes you believe it. I could feel the grit of sand on my skin.

If I have to find any fault with this book--no small task, as brilliant a read as it is--it's that with the exception of Chapman himself and the spectre-like target of Rommel, very few of the characters are well-rounded. Stein, a college-age friend of Chap's, gets the best treatment but is "seen" very seldom. Chap's romance with Rose is very quickly established and then left in the background, perhaps intentionally, since months of Chap's life are swallowed in the desert.

But none of this detracts from the power of Pressfield's story. What it means to fight and kill other human beings is at the forefront of Chap's thoughts, and every exciting episode serves to sober and mature him. It's this meaningful thread throughout the story that makes Killing Rommel Pressfield's best since Gates of Fire.

Highly recommended.

Pressfield is an author who can put you into the battle to the point that you are ducking for cover with the protagonist and looking across the sands for headlights. . . Germans? Italians? English?

"Killing Rommel" brings alive the battles of World War II in the Middle East and North Africa. I hesitated to buy this book as I always have been drawn more to reading about the events in the Pacific, since my father served on the carrier "Enterprise." Leon Uris's "Battle Cry" and Mailer's "The Naked and the Dead" were my icons of history lessons for the South Pacific war. However, Pressfield never lets his reader down, and "Killing Rommel" goes to the mysterious Desert Campaign with flair.

The action is fast and furious, the romance is sweet without being cloying, the British school system and soldiers with their "stiff upper lip" gentleman's attitude give the novel a universal appeal. The battle details, including the lessons in tank repair, are thoroughly ingenious without bogging the story down.

I have been a fan of Pressfield's since "Gates of Fire," and it's still a favorite as is "Last of the Amazons." This new novel shows off his ability to take on a telling of the soldiers and their lives in the forbidding terrain of the desert in WWII. Kudos for this novel.

General Erwin Rommel was probably the most famous German Field Marshal of World War II and was commander of the Deutsches Afrika Korps. He became known by the nickname "The Desert Fox" for his skillful military campaigns waged on behalf of the German Army in North Africa that featured some of the finest strategies of World War II. His legacy also includes a reputation as being a chivalrous and humane military officer in contrast to many other figures of Nazi Germany.

It is the character Erwin Rommel that is the driving force behind KILLING ROMMEL. Steven Pressfield's career has been dominated by bestselling works of historical fiction, most famously with GATES OF FIRE (which has been optioned by George Clooney for a film treatment) about the Spartans' battle with the Persian army. He also wrote the non-military novel THE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE, which was made into the Robert Redford movie starring Matt Damon and Will Smith.

KILLING ROMMEL is told from the perspective of R. Lawrence Chapman, and the story that proceeds from a brief introductory chapter allegedly comes from Chapman's diaries of his experiences with the British Army during World War II. Chapman is not a traditional military type and, in this story, went on to become a famous publisher following the end of WWII. Pressfield does a nice job of blending fact with fiction and features real-life British Army heroes like Jake Easonsmith, Paddy Mayne, Nick Wilder and Ron Tinker. Others represent composites or fictional characterizations.

Chapman is selected to join a secret unit known as the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG), and they are identified by their scorpion insignia. The LRDG is tasked with infiltrating the German troops in North Africa and killing their leader, General Rommel. They recognize that this may indeed be a suicide mission but one that is necessary to alter the outcome of the war. General Rommel had just routed the British forces in a series of battles in the Western African Desert and is in the process of marching on to the gates of Alexandria. If the German troops are successful in this course, they threaten to push from the Suez into the Middle East oilfields. With Arab oil in their control, Hitler's army could very well break the backs of the European Allied Forces and Russian Army.

What follows during Chapman's recounting of his time with the LRDG is some very engaging historical and fictional accounts of the challenges and struggles that this secret unit faces against not only the Nazi Army but also the conditions of the African desert and their own vehicular limitations. It is during this point that you will forget you are reading a work of fiction and actually feel like you are there with this desperate British unit, as they valiantly struggle to overcome many obstacles in an effort to reach their goal of killing General Rommel.

With the British Eighth Army, led by General Bernard Montgomery, surging and a push from the recently landed American Allied Army led by General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the LRDG realizes how critical it is for them to succeed and provide intelligence that will allow their overall forces to succeed in stopping the Nazi desert push. The historical battle at El Alamein is an important turning point in this effort, and Pressfield again puts the reader right there with the LRDG. The eventual face-to-face confrontation between Chapman's team and General Rommel himself is powerful and contains enough nervous tension to make the best military history buff forget the eventual documented outcome.

It is a known fact that Rommel was defeated in his efforts to drive through to the Middle East, and this failure led to his eventual falling out with Hitler himself. Rommel's life ended with his suicide when he was fingered as part of a Nazi mutiny that plotted to kill Hitler. Pressfield succeeds greatly in making you feel distinctly what these young British soldiers went through during this North African campaign (which actually lasted from 1940-1943), and knowing the outcome of the battle ahead of time makes this novel no less interesting a read.

KILLING ROMMEL is a thoroughly engaging book --- and not just for military history buffs.

--- Reviewed by Ray Palen

I've read most, if not all the historical novels that Steven Pressfield has put out, with "Gates of Fire" being my favorite. Perhaps the fact that I am a 'military historian' and study the Second World War makes me more critical of this book, but to be honest I study the Eastern Front and the North African theater is as distant to me as the Spartans in "Gates of Fire." The theme of the book has been described well enough by other reviewers; I'd just like to give my impressions and why I think it a 3 star book, instead of the 5 stars most seem to give it.

To start off, I think I developed a better relationship with the desert than any of the characters featured here. There are a few scenes that I enjoyed but none compare to any of those in Pressfield's other historical novels. Whereas usually one would have a clear and decisive goal, the Long Range Desert Group has their plans changed on almost a chapter by chapter basis. Granted, this is war and with fog of war this is what happens, but in the end this read more like a written report to a higher up than a novel. I always appreciate authenticity and have never been let down by this author but I am quite annoyed at the praise heaped onto Rommel. He was hardly the best the Germans had, if he was he would have been on the Eastern Front where the outcome of the war was being decided, instead of stuck in North Africa fixing Mussolini's mistakes. He was a good divisional commander, but he couldn't command a corps or an army as evidence by the fact that he could not comprehend logistics and was soundly beaten when he faced an opponent of worth. His achievements in France were made against standing orders and his division performed no better than any other, if you disagree just find one division that didn't do a 'great' job in that campaign. It seems British propaganda about Rommel's achievements are more than evident within the pages of this work. Afterall, why would the British want anyone to believe that they were beaten by someone who wasn't as great as Rommel is made out to be? While I could deal with it if it was only brought up once or twice, that isn't the case here. Again and again I have to be reminded of how great of a commander he is, how brilliant, ad nauseum.

Perhaps I expected too much. I'm sure the majority will enjoy this book, but I'd rather read his other novels.

My copy of "Killing Rommel" arrived in the mail on Friday. By the time I closed the covers for the first time (I will open them again more than once, I'm sure) on Saturday, I had a blistering sunburn - and I'd hardly left the house. That is how intensely and intimately Pressfield drew me into the story, and into the sands of North Africa. It is Pressfield's genius to take us to a place we thought we knew from history classes (the battle of Thermopylae, the conquests of Alexander, the campaigns across North Africa) and make them come alive - to make it feel not only that we KNOW about the campaign, but that we REMEMBER the campaign.

Not only does Pressfield tell a crackling-good barn-burner of a story, he writes with an obvious mastery of the craft. Pick up "Killing Rommel" and open it to a random page. Read a sentence - any sentence. That sentence will be a work of art, because virtually every sentence is a work of art. You don't notice it unless you stop and look, because Pressfield has woven all of these carefully crafted passages so seamlessly into the story.

As in several of his previous novels, Pressfield (perhaps emulating the Desert Fox himself) draws you deep into the sands of the book and, when you're in far too deep to withdraw, has you step on a landmine. In this book, so full of the warrior ethos and the band of brothers camaraderie of barracks and battlefields, the landmine for me was the single paragraph in which Chapman reflected upon "the perverse logic of war and the true tragedy of armed conflict."

Whether you are a history buff, a veteran or fan of all things military, or just want to pick up the sort of novel that grabs you by the nose and kicks you in the rear, you'll love "Killing Rommel." Just don't start reading it on Sunday evening if you have to go to work on Monday.

I can add little more to the eloquent 5-star praise and synopses thus far for Pressfield's newest wartime adventure, except "Ditto for me and roger all that." I've immensely enjoyed and been edified by every book this master storyteller has written.

I can count on his typically thorough research to inform me accurately on the factual details as well as the grand historical dramas in which his subjects play their parts. For his narrative technique, which looks out from inside the soldier's mind, I award him the title of "soldier's chronicler," in the dirt with the boys where Gen. Omar Bradley liked to be. At the same time, the action scenes, the slash-burn-grit-grind of battle, are more reminiscent of Patton. It's an unbeatable combination to have telling a war story.

Pressfield pulls us into the fray and helps us feel what it's like to be right there in the muck, agony and glory of it all. The feeling sticks with you, the taste stays in your mouth, and it changes you a bit. To me a book is like a conversation and, having journeyed around the block many times, I get rather picky when it comes to who gets my attention and for how long. Keeping these world-wizened eyes stayed on a story requires a very special talent which this author has in abundance.

As for Rommel himself, possibly the last of the honorable gentlemen warriors, this book inspired a nice epiphany. We know the story of Hitler's ultimatum to Rommel and the general's resulting suicide. But it was with a new sense of irony I realized more fully, after reading this account of the Brits' determined plotting and planning to take out the Desert Fox, that his own boss was the only one who could finally do him in. I take this as Pressfield's tribute to a remarkable general that gives the book's title another, more subtle dimension I hadn't imagined.

Killing Rommel, a novel written by Stephen Pressfield, is a fictional memoir of a World War II British officer named Chapman who serves in the North Africa Campaign. It is also an awesome story of men at war.

In Killing Rommel, the reader follows the fictional Chapman through his early life at a British public school, Oxford, the incredible seesaw fight in North Africa between the British 8th Army and Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps, and then an ultimately doomed raid with the famous Long Range Desert Task Force to assassinate the German commander who was called, deservedly, the Desert Fox. Along the way the reader gets a feeling for what it was like to participate in one of the oddest campaigns in military history, atypical to most wars of the 20th Century, certainly on World War II.

Chapman, a tank commander, is attached to the Long Range Desert Task Force in a mission designed to kill that man of honor and brilliance. But first they have to find their target, a story that occupies most of the last third of the novel. What follows is an epic of men at war, it's horror and glory, as compelling as anything Stephen Pressfield has written before, in his novels set in Ancient Greece.

The short line on Steven Pressfield's new book: the best. It almost hurts to write that because I've hung to Gates of Fire for a decade at the top of my best books ever list, a list that includes books from a wide genre, Victor Hugo to Stephen King, Tom Clancy to Par Lagerkvist, Mark Helprin to Howard Fast and everywhere in between. Pressfield's characters captured me from the first pages, and this tale of honor among men refused to let me put the book down. If you are a Pressfield fan, this book will not disappoint you on any level. If you are new to Mr. Pressfield, this book will encourage you to read his others.

I am particularly fond of historical novels because I consider them a painless way to learn history. Mr. Pressfield has never failed to teach his readers all the details within the historical context in which he writes, in this case, about the little known Long Range Desert Group, the LRDG, the predecessor to Special Forces as we know them in the modern era.

The story is simple: the memoir of a LRDG lieutenant who is part of a mission to kill Field Marshall Rommel and thereby disrupt the Axis control of North Africa and its hold on oil assets in the Middle East during World War II. The characters are noteworthy: average men with simple vocations who rise above their commonality in extraordinary circumstances by committing themselves to a mission simply because it was their job. The prose is crisp and fast and the story moves quickly and with intensity.

That is the short of it: great story with great characters that is impossible to put down until you've finished the final page. Scrupulously researched like all Pressfield books and packed with the type of action that would draw viewers to the big screen in droves. Hollywood cannot let this one pass. That's the short of it. If you need more, please continue .....

Steven Pressfield is a literary risk-taker: he started with a mystical golf journey, moved into the realm of ancient Greek history and now finds himself in the blistering deserts of North Africa surrounded by Rommel's Africa Corp. The common thread: ordinary men are capable of uncommon deeds when their purpose is fixed and their hearts are committed. Pressfield has told his stories as a fictional character, as a mythical woman, as a real historical character and now as Everyman in the guise of Lt. Chapman, "Chap" who finds himself in the middle of an unthinkable mission to cut off the head of the snake, to kill arguably the most dynamic military mind of modern warfare, Field Marshall Erwin Rommel.

As I journeyed through Mr. Pressfield's ancient histories, I was always very comfortable with his prose. It immersed me into a world, ancient and distant from my own. His prose is part of his genius as it captures the flavor of his historical era. Killing Rommel is his best writing yet. Mr. Pressfield has even elected to use the `s' in place of the `z' as is common in the King's English, "civilisation," for example instead of "civilization;" "tire" becomes "tyre." The choice of words and sentence structure help set the mood of the book by thrusting the reader into the 1940's. The reader becomes a part of the story.

From start to finish, our narrator emphasizes the character of Rommel, chivalrous and honorable. Despite Rommel's admirable personal qualities, the Allies are convinced that without him, the Axis struggle in North Africa will collapse, hence Churchill's directive to kill Rommel. I will not reveal any of the many twists that Mr. Pressfield has crafted, but when I finished the book, I held the same respect for the Desert Fox that was shared by Eisenhower, Patton, Montgomery and the members of the LRDG, heroes all. Within hours after finishing the book, I found myself contemplating how the German Republic could have produced two, such diverse characters at each end of the proverbial spectrum as Erwin Rommel and Adolf Hitler. How could one wage war with regret and honor while the other directed the murder of millions of innocent people? Intentionally or not, Mr. Pressfield elicited these questions from me as I read this book. While there is no answer, the future requires us to ask ourselves such questions as we reflect on our past.

You probably already know that Rommel was not killed by the LRDG or any other group of Allies. The pursuit and the encounter however will make this harrowing journey through the desert more than worthwhile.

I am a slow reader. A solid 80% of the books I read are novels. Only once in my life have I ever sat and read a book from cover to cover with no breaks. One Friday evening in 1971 while in pilot training in Georgia, I opened The Exorcist and didn't put it down until early the next morning, scared witless I might add. Thirty-seven years later, older and wiser, I did the same thing with Killing Rommel; I devoured it in a single night. This time when I put the book down, I felt pride to be able to call myself a true brother-in-arms to soldiers past, present and future.

Four decades ago while still a senior in college, I read Armageddon by Leon Uris. That is the only novel I have ever used a magic marker on. Within the last month, I had that old 1963 copy out and found exactly the passages I was looking for thanks to that blue marker. Last week, once again, I broke out a marker and wielded it for the first time in 40 years while I read Killing Rommel. I sensed early on that this is a special book. I was right. In what is certainly a profound, autobiographical conviction, Mr. Pressfield has Chap's 'dear friend and brother-in-law' include these words in Chap's eulogy, "Literature was his religion. He believed in the written word, in the soul-to-soul communion between writer and reader that takes place in the silence between the covers of a book."

American historian and philosopher Will Durant once said, "We Americans are the best informed people on earth as to the events of the last twenty-four hours; we are the not the best informed as to the events of the last sixty centuries." For a decade now, Steven Pressfield has given us a very entertaining way to play catch up. We need to thank him and exploit his efforts. Mr. Pressfield believes in the written word.

Killing Rommel is the latest effort from the noted historical fiction author, Steven Pressfield. This fast paced book is different than most of Pressfield's titles which normally focus on ancient warfare. As the title suggests, this story is set during World War II. The story is treated as a first hand account of a British officer, Lt. Chapman, who is attached to the British Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) who along with the Special Air Service have been given a mission to assassinate Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.

Upon first hearing about the book, two things concerned me. First was the mission, assassinating Rommel, second was Rose, Chapman's wife.
I was aware, as are many people familiar with the desert war, that the British had indeed planned a mission to capture or kill Rommel but the mission came to naught. As the book was a work of fiction, I could accept that the LRDG would assist in such a mission.

Rose is Chapman's wife. I was worried that somehow Pressfield was going to have this signal expert be part of the patrol. If this thought has crossed your mind, you can breathe easy. Rose is simply the wife of the protagonist and is stationed in Egypt. This actually happened with some regularity during World War II. While Rose, is central to the development of Chapman's character she is not central to the mission. Her character is used to advance the story, principally through Chapman writing to and thinking about her.

The story itself is relayed to us through an unpublished memoir of a British officer (Chapman) who was attached ever so briefly to the LRDG in late 1942. If you are expecting a book similar to The Eagle as Landed, by Jack Higgins, you will be disappointed. Despite the title, the book`s central focus is not the mission to kill Rommel. Chapman and his fictional T3 patrol do not spend days or even weeks planning a mission down to the last detail. You will also be disappointed if you are expecting a technical manual on the weapons and equipment used by the LRDG.

What will not disappoint are the actual story and the writing style of Pressfield. The story moves quickly and smoothly form one chapter to the next. The story begins with the Chapman as a young man, shortly before entering college. As war is declared, he enlists and is commissioned in a Royal Tank Regiment. He is soon shipped to North Africa, where his tank regiment is engaged in combat with the newly arriving Afrika Korps commanded by Field Marshall Rommel. Chapman is no different that a thousand other officers in a tank regiment. Circumstances lead to Chapman's temporary assignment to the LRDG for the purpose of determining tank routes through uncharted deserts, an assignment not too uncommon for junior officers in the tank regiments.

Upon assignment, Chapman is introduced to many names familiar to people who are familiar with the LRDG. Pressfield uses this opportunity to introduce these same people to the reading audience, a common plot device that is often necessary to advance a story. Pressfield does this quite well and what could have been an annoyance to the already informed, flows smoothly.

As I mentioned before, Pressfield does not tire us with a mind numbing technical jargon about the LRDG equipment. This also keeps the story going. What we have in place of the jargon is what sounds like personal recollection of what patrols needed to do to keep the vehicles moving and keep weapons operational in the harsh Sahara. We get a feel for what it is like to drive up a sand dune. We understand the dread of German aircraft. We also get an understanding of ordinary soldiers who have taken on an extraordinary mission.

The book is not a history lesson. If you have a better than average knowledge of the LRDG, the story will not tell you anything new about their operations or equipment. If you have no knowledge of the LRDG, the book will give you a good understanding of the unit without overwhelming or boring you.

Why should you read this story? If for no other reason, any reader of World War II fiction should happily embrace this book because of the lack of good fiction about the desert war. While the desert war is well represented with memoirs, there is very little fiction set during this phase of the World War II, a phase which occupied a full half of the war for Britain. Most World War II fiction discusses North West Europe or the Russian Front and a smattering on the Italian front.

Furthermore there are few fictional accounts of actual commando type attacks. Most instead focus on the cloak and dagger type missions similar to Alistair MacLean's Guns of Navarone or Where Eagles Dare. Pressfield has forgone these super-hero stories and the age old concept of Private Armies and engages us with a story of an actual special force unit, performing a typical, if improbable mission, during the desert war.

He has woven his fictional characters into a patch work of actual persons and created a desert war that captures the actual memoirs of those who had fought in the war. With the story, you get the feeling of the brave lads who rushed to volunteer for the war, the reality of tank battles in the desert where your armor is no match for the enemy, the quiet confidence and determination of the LRDG and the common comradery of soldiers and the guilt and anguish associated with surviving it all.

The book is highly recommended for the LRDG enthusiast and anyone who enjoys World War II fiction.

In "Killing Rommel" veteran author Steven Pressfield has written yet another vivid and exciting novel detailing the matter-of-fact heroics and actions by the warriors who fight and too-often die.

Set in North Africa during the British fight against Gen Erwin Rommel in 1942, Pressfield takes the exploits of the British Army's little-known Long Range Desert Group, and presents the reader with yet another well-researched and exciting story of men at war.

As is Pressfield's style, he tells the story from the viewpoint of one of the participants. Lt. Lawrence Chapman is one of Pressfield's proverbial citizen-soldiers, a young man thrust into a war for which his middle-class collegiate upbringing has not at all prepared him. While normally in Pressfield's books it's the enlisted men who are the narrators and telling the story from the boots-on-the-ground perspective, it's a unique change in approach as Lt. Chapman brings an officer's point of view to the fight.

The war in 1942 in North Africa was going badly for the Allies. Gen Rommel's strategy and tactics overwhelmed Gen Montgomery's British troops, and the initial American Army reinforcements were routed at the Kasserine Pass. If Rommel could successfully capture Cairo, then the Germans would control the middle-eastern oil fields, the Suez Canal, and quick access to India and the Pacific, all of which would have horrific repercussions on the Allied war effort.

The British had previously formed the Long Range Desert Group as a desert recon force, which they now tasked to kill Rommel, and Pressfield uses Lt. Chapman to narrate the war in the desert.

Historically accurate, "Killing Rommel" describes a war that most in Americans might only know through the old television show "Rat Patrol." Driving old Chevrolet trucks that they up-armor themselves, often short on petrol, rations, water, and ammunition, Lt Chapman depicts the fight in North Africa between the beleaguered Brits and Rommel's Afrika Corps as he learns to command as he learns to fight.

Those who have fought, and especially those Marines who have fought at An-Nasiriyah, Fallujah, Haditha, and Anbar Province, will understand the pictures Pressfield paints of the thirst, heat, sand, and boredom - interrupted by intense combat - in the desert. He draws the reader into the action with Chapman and his men as they drive -often by stars and dead reckoning - to their rendezvous points and multiple missions.

As Pressfield's books are so famously noted, the characters in "Killing Rommel" possess a quiet courage and grow into a maturity far beyond their years. Similar to Xeo in "Gates of Fire," and Matthais in "The Afghan Campaign," the deep story here is how Chapman and his fellow Tommies are thrown into some extraordinarily ugly situations, and then respond. It's the story of these citizen-soldiers and how they react to the carnage around them that makes "Killing Rommel" one of Pressfield's best books.